Home Inspection Highlights 2016

Ah yes, another year has come and gone. Let’s take a look at my annual top pictures from 2016! I typically do top a 10, but this year I’m expanding it to 12; there is just too much good stuff not to share it.

12. DIY Plumbing Drains

These flex-drains that you can buy at the big box stores are terrible. They clog up really easily, and because of the ribs on the walls, they drain slow too. This homeowner didn’t think his sink was draining slow enough with one, so he added a second one for good measure. *Note – I say “he,” because clearly no woman would do something so stupid, right ladies?

11. My Personal Hell – One Nasty Crawlspace

I understand that if you have a crawlspace under your house, you’re probably not going to crawl through it. They are dark, dank, have lots of bugs in them, a spider or two, and maybe even a snake hanging out. But this crawlspace was special. I mean, I was pretty sure I was going to find Jimmy Hoffa under there. If you happen to live in a home built on a crawlspace, do yourself a favor and pop that door open every decade or so and make sure your house is not rotting out from under you.

10. Termite Damage in the Attic

Here in Louisville (well, all of Kentucky) we have termites. It’s pretty common for me to come across a house that has a bit of damage along the floor structure. What is not so common is to see damage in the attic. You see, we have subterranean termites here (they come up from the ground) to munch on your house. They build these small hollow mud tubes to travel through called shelter tubes (that is what you see circled in red in the picture). If you see them 20 feet in the air on the attic framing, then it’s a pretty safe bet they have eaten their way through the house and there is damage concealed in the wall as well.

9. Leaking Custom Tile Shower

Let me let you in on a little secret. Tiles, mortar, and grout are not waterproof. If whomever is building your new custom “dream shower” doesn’t know what they are doing, it will leak. I see about 100 a year that do. This poor seller had just paid a small fortune for a bath remodel and there was one of those nifty niches in the shower wall to hold shampoo and soap. The installer didn’t use a liner insert and instead decided to save the $38 bucks by trying to simply frame it out and tile over it. The shower leaked in the crawlspace for about a year, and now all the wood is rotten. That savings of $38 bucks just cost someone $10,000 in repairs. Oops.

8. New Construction – Missing Flashing on the Roof

“New construction homes don’t need an inspection, they were checked by the city.” LOL! – If I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard that line. This house is a perfect example. The roofer decided not to flash any of the vertical walls. None of them. If you are naive enough to believe that many builders and their sub-contractors aren’t cutting every corner they can on your new home, I have some swamp land in Arizona that you may be interested in.

7. Go Home Deck – You’re drunk!

This…thing. It really sucks the life out of me. I was scared to walk on it, and was even more uneasy when my client/buyer let her kids play on it. I’ve seen a bunch of crappy decks before, but this thing takes the prize. Pro Tip – While shopping for your new house, if you need to tilt your head to make your deck look level, you’re in trouble.

7. Brown Recluse Spiders

These dudes blend in to their surroundings a bit too much for my liking. I took this shot inside a sump pump crock I was reaching down into to test the sump pump. I typically see a couple of houses a year that are infested with Brown Recluse Spiders in Louisville, KY. You can see why your grandpa called them “fiddlers.” The marking on their backs is very clear if you know what you are looking for.

6. Electrical Connections in the Gutter

Some fool thought it was a good idea to leave these 3 A/C disconnects in the gutter on a 3 story home in Old Louisville. It’s OK though; the rest of the house was just as bad as this. Everything in life is all about perspective.

5. Mold in the Crawlspace

The mold growth was so bad under this house I wrote my initials in the mold on the side of the floor joist. Looking back on it I should have went all Shawshank on it and wrote ‘Ben Was Here.’ You can also see the water dripping from the ductwork from the humidity under this house.

4. Dirty Undies in the Crawlspace Sump Pump

You know, not much makes me cringe. But I draw the line at someone’s old soiled dirty tighty whities hanging on a sump pump in an old nasty crawlspace. Who the heck does this? And how did they get here? No clue. Gross.

3. Frosty Nails in the Attic

Most folks’ first reaction to this issue is that it is the result of a lack of ventilation. That’s not it. This is caused by the air inside the living space (conditioned air) that is full of moisture, clashing with the cold roof decking in the attic. It can cause mold to grow and your wood to rot. It’s vital that you keep a super tight air seal around things like recessed lights and ceiling fans so that this doesn’t happen.

2. Garage Door Death Trap

People do stupid things. That is a fact. This picture illustrates something that happens to be at the top of the stupid scale. Garage door springs have a crazy amount of tension on them. So much so, that if the spring were to break and hit you, it could kill you. This dummy though it would be OK to clip this all together with a cheap key-chain carabiner. Wow…

1. The Best Door Mat Ever

My wife would disagree, but I think most people would side with this door mat.

Once again I wish to say a heartfelt Thank Youto all who chose me to have your back during the stress of buying a house. It’s a responsibility and an honor that I do not take lightly, and I can’t thank you enough. To those of you who didn’t choose me….shame on you. Really, shame on you.

Ben Hendricks

Hi, I'm Ben, and I inspect houses. I grew up with a hammer in my hand, and have been a professional home inspector for 10 years. My blog is here for info about Home Inspections around the Louisville KY area, and just about anything construction related.